My guest today is Sharon Alice
Geyer, the author of a trilogy set in the Middle East: The Samson Option, The Time of
Jacob's Trouble, and the upcoming The Return of the Mahdi, plus her memoir Daughter of Jerusalem. Sharon is a fellow member of Lagunita Writers Group in Southern
California. I'd love for you to get to know this interesting woman.
Lorna: What was your inspiration for the
character of Ari?
An infant boy was found abandoned
and brought to the Baby Home where I worked in Jerusalem. I loved this little
fellow, who eventually was adopted by a kibbutz family. The grown-up Ari is a
figment of my imagination.
Lorna: Did you meet people like
Lily who had been diagnosed with the Jerusalem syndrome? Is it an
existing condition?
I met several people who
exhibited certain delusions, which would qualify as the Jerusalem Syndrome. It
definitely is a known phenomenon to doctors in Jerusalem.
Lorna: We have visited Israel ourselves and
remember many of the spots in the novels. We are transported back there through
your books. You vividly describe all the locations Ari and Lily pass through in
their journeys. Did you yourself visit all of them?
Yes, I have lived and traveled
extensively in Iran, Israel, the West Bank, and the Sinai. The only exception
is Damascus. I have never been there, but surely would love to visit “Straight
Street” some day in the future.
Lorna: Does the convent garden in Jerusalem where
Lily uncovers the inscription actually exit?
Yes, the convent belongs to the
Russian Orthodox Church, located in a neighborhood near Jerusalem called Ain
Karem. This is the traditional hometown of John the Baptist.
Lorna: The brothers, Daniel and Eli, are
pivotal characters towards the end, but their personal motivations seem vague
at the end of the first book. Was this deliberate? They reappear in the second.
Will they reappear in the last book in the trilogy?
My plotting is done more from the
subconscious level than anything deliberate. But yes, Dan and Eli are important
characters. They appear in the sequel The Time of Jacob’s Trouble, and the
final book in the trilogy called The Return of the Mahdi.
Lorna: Is the character of Lily based on
someone you know?
Lily is perhaps an amalgam of
many people I have known. But other characters, like Dr. Hepzibah Klein and Rachel,
are based on real people.
Lorna: Are any of the situations or characters
based on your own life?
Yes, the nurse, Miss Queller, who
is murdered in the chapter one, is based on my life as a baby nurse. I changed
her nationality and home country to make it not so apparent.
Sharon Alice Geyer was born and raised in California where she
met and married her first husband, an Iranian national. After the births of two
sons, she returned with him to Iran. Her naïve dreams of living as a Persian
princess were soon shattered, and her life became so dangerous her only option
was escape. However, the price for her freedom was leaving her sons behind. She
became an exile in Israel in the hope of regaining her children. She returned
to the United States in 1989 where she lives today with her second husband, an
archaeobotanist. Her sons now live nearby and she has a close relationship with
them and her grandchildren. Read all about her fascinating life in her memoir, Daughter
of Jerusalem.
